


Misadventures in Storybrooke

by Bruteaous



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 18:37:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17965910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bruteaous/pseuds/Bruteaous
Summary: A few random oneshots of life in Storybrook. In my continuity, Emma became the dark one to save Regina, the wish verse still happened, but Captain Hook never met Emma in this continuity (though Rogers has arrived in the town). Hope to explore some characters the show didn't take the time to.





	Misadventures in Storybrooke

 

 _They were all lucky not to be turned into flying monkeys_ , Robin thought back in hindsight, _very lucky_.

 

It had all started on the playground. They’d been playing a game of ‘Heroes & Villains’ at the end of the school day like they usually did. Robin had paired up with her older brother, Roland, who was in a different grade and the rest of the sons and daughters of the other Merry Men. Alice and Hope had volunteered to be the damsels because—as they put it—“ the damsels have the real power ‘cause they can choose whose butts they kick and who’s allowed to save them, so there.” The seven illegitimate sons of the Sheriff of Nottingham were the villains—a role they enjoyed playing a little too much.

 

Alice and Hope had sequestered themselves behind the windows of the cedar tower to watch and cheer on their favorites and heckle the villains trying to capture them. Nerf arrows had gone flying. Roland and Neal had out flanked three of their kindergarten age rivals and Robin had put a sucker cup arrow in between the eyes of two of the third graders, but Elias Gardner—Alice’s half-brother and the leader of Nottingham’s brats—had sacrificed his younger siblings to distract the heroes and was climbing up the faux rock wall that would lead him to the two ‘damsels’. He had a good head start before Robin spotted him, but as soon as the girl noticed him, she vaulted in his direction.

 

 Her Heroic nosedive into the woodchips in order to grab the villain’s red Adidas before they were out of reach was negated though by the torrent of grape juice boxes that suddenly came raining down from above on Elias’s head—supplied by Alice and Hope who were whooping and shouting. To be fair—neither Robin’s cousin or Alice had truly needed saving—but damsels in real life never did.

 

That wasn’t the point of the game. The point was to maybe practice the future roles they wanted to occupy and have fun in the meantime, but in that moment, it had been hard for Robin to see the fun in it as she clung onto Elias’s boy jeans while being collaterally pelted by juice boxes. The ones that assailed Robin though had done so by accident, but she was a hero and heroes had jobs to do and heroes didn’t give up. So little Robin held onto the villain’s legs for dear life and swung the miniature bow in her hand for all she was worth.

 

“Ouch, ouch, hey!” the older boy shouted, “Stop it you little—OW!!”

 

The solid yew wood of the bow Little John had carved for her for her fifth birthday had smashed painfully into Elias’s knuckles, elbows, and chin. Then Alice’s bully of a brother let loose a string of curses that Robin’s mother had told her never to repeat in public if she could help it. Still, she’d hung on, and fought and she would’ve won if it hadn’t been for the Hello Kitty lunchbox that suddenly eclipsed everything in her vision from above. It smiled at her as gravity lent it weight and momentum delivered it squarely to her face and into an instant dirt nap.

 

Robin had woken up in the school nurse’s office with a cotton ball taped to the small cut on her head where Hello Kitty’s molded metal bow had nailed her.

 

And now she was here, sitting on the wall bench outside of the Principal’s Office alone while her mother’s outraged voice carried on a heated tirade from behind the closed door. Most of the other children and their parents had had the good sense to run from the scene of the crime the moment she’d lost consciousness, knowing well who Robin’s mother was and what the woman would do if anyone so much and blew a hair on her little blonde head out of place. Her Aunt Regina’s voice interrupted from behind the door, but instead of her mother calming down, Zelena’s tone rose in volume and became almost shrill.

 

Robin sighed, holding onto the sides of the bench as she kicked her legs, watching the laces on her swinging converse shoes sway and drag against the concrete floor below.  She didn’t hear the tiny footsteps moving towards her until Alice’s pink Nike runners came into view. The blonde daughter of one of her Aunt Emma’s police lieutenants brought a tentative hand up to Robin’s head, shifting the bangs hanging over the other girl’s bandaged temple.

 

“Sorry,” Alice said, her small cockney voice heavy with guilt. “Hope didn’t mean to hit you. She was aiming for my brother.”

 

Robin smirked, cheeks turning bright pink under the attention of concerned hazel eyes. To be honest, she wasn’t surprised. The daughter of the Savior and the former Evil Queen was definitely the braver of the two damsels who often attacked and thought about it later. Hope was Robin’s cousin though and—aside from Alice—her closest friend. Robin could forgive her for one stray lunchbox.

 

“We’ll have to work on her aim,” Robin replied, suddenly turning bashful and looking back at her shoes

 

“Yeah,” Alice nodded heartily in agreement, sitting down on the bench beside her and beginning to kick her feet in time with Robin’s. “Where’s your mom?”

 

Robin pointed at the door beside her, “She’s in there yelling at Mr. Chips. Aunt Regina’s trying to calm her down.”

 

As if to prove her statement, a loud exclamation of what sounded like a muffled, “Is that supposed to make me feel better?!” carried through the frosted glass to their ears. Robin winced and gripped the bench beneath her harder. As much as she loved her mom, it wasn’t always easy being the daughter of the Wicked Witch of the West. Even in a town with so many reformed villains and forgiving heroes, old tensions remained and Zelena and her temper were legendary.

 

There was the sound of a door closing, then more footsteps, and a pair of tasteful Doc Martens were standing in front of them. Robin’s eyes followed them up a pair of black skinny jeans and to the infamous red leather jacket and white turtleneck of her Aunt Emma.

 

“Hey Kid, how’s it going?”

 

The older blonde knelt down, fingers lifting Robin’s chin so she could get a good look at the little girl’s injury. The movement also served to bring Robin’s ashamed gaze level with Emma’s concerned blue one.

 

“It doesn’t look too bad. You might have a little scar, but you can make up cool stories about how you got it to tell your friends.”

 

The blonde winked and Robin smiled, feeling a little bit better, “How are things? Are we at war yet?”

 

 Alice—who’d been watching the exchange quietly—shook her head, “Not yet. Robin’s mom’s real steamed though.”

 

“I should probably go in. See what we’re dealing with,” the Sheriff commented, though her feet didn’t move to go forward.

 

The sound of raised voices floated out from beneath the Principal’s door again and Emma grimaced.

 

“On second thought, I think your Aunt Regina’s probably got this,” Emma rationalized, clearing her throat and sitting down on the side of the bench beside Robin and opposite Alice. “I’ll wait for her and hang out here with you guys in the meantime.”

 

“Am I in trouble?” Robin asked, the fear clear in her voice.

 

“What…No, of course, not—at least I don’t think so,” Emma reassured her niece quickly, throwing an arm around her shoulders and squeezing. “In fact—from the sound of things—I’d say it’s Mr. Chips who’s in hot water right now. Poor man. You and your friends didn’t do anything wrong. It was just an accident. One we’ll all have forgotten about by the weekend.”

 

Robin nodded, feeling some of the apprehension ease from her chest, but there was still a twinge of guilt rankling between her ribs that grew three sizes every time her mother’s angry voice reached her ears. Then a pair of small arms were encircling one of Robin’s elbows and a commiserating head was laying on one of her bony shoulders.

 

“You’re not to blame, Nobin.” Alice said, using the nickname that was so often the catalyst for Robin chasing the other girl across the small woods separating Zelena’s farmhouse from the main town. “If anything, it’s me and Hope who should be in the doghouse. We were the ones raining down leftover lunch hell down upon the bullies after all.”

 

Robin was quick to disagree, shaking her head seriously, “Yeah, but you had to defend yourselves. There’s no wrongdoing in that.”

 

Emma’s curious voice cut into their private conversation gently, “What game were you kids playing this time?”

 

Robin ducked her head self-consciously, “Heroes & Villains.”

 

Emma’s loud sigh of defeat filled the deserted school hallway, making Robin feel that much worse. “Which is the game me and your Aunt Regina and my mom and my dad asked you guys not to play again.”

 

“But, um, but it’s not like we can help it,” Robin cut in, feeling braver than she had since she’d woken up. “you guys are heroes and it’s not like we don’t have a new villain pop up here every other Tuesday. And—um, well—when you guys are old and grey who’re the heroes going to be if not us?”

 

“Yeah,” Alice piped in, supportively. “We’re heroes in training. We’ve got to train.”

 

Emma rubbed her temples with both hands, muttering something unintelligible before giving in, “Well—you’re not wrong—but in a fight between heroes and villains, people get hurt and the whole reason your families asked you not to play that game anymore is because they didn’t want anything like this to happen. You may be heroes in training, but there’s more to being heroes than fighting. Besides, things aren’t as simple as being just ‘heroes & villains.’ I know it might seem like that now, but everyone is a little bit of both and that’s okay. You just need to always try to do good and be your best selves, but being good doesn’t always have to mean stopping someone from doing bad. Sometimes it’s enough to just have the courage to be yourself and live your life. You get me?”

 

Both Robin and Alice nodded seriously.

 

“Good,” the Sheriff said.

 

Then suddenly the door to Mr. Chips’ office opened by itself and Regina was stepping out into the corridor in one of her three piece Gucci suits, hauling her sister—who was still shouting at the man cowering behind his desk—behind her.

 

“There you are!” Regina’s voice was colored with equal parts relief and disapproval. “I was beginning to think you’d been carried off by Trolls with all the voicemail messages I’ve left you with no answer. Where’s Hope? Where’s our daughter?”

 

“At my parent’s house with Neal. David took her home so I could come here from the station,” Emma said standing up, hands in her back pockets as she stood somewhat sheepishly before her immaculately dressed wife, knowing that Regina knew that she’d purposefully been hiding in the corridor with the children because she didn’t want to have to get involved in the fight going on between her wife, Zelena, and the kindly old principal who was guaranteed having a way worse afternoon than he had a morning. “She seemed…guilty. Didn’t even try to lie about what happened. She even asked me to let her know how Robin was doing as soon as I found out.”

 

Regina’s stern look softened somewhat at the mention of their big hearted daughter who was as loyal as she was loving when it came to their odd extended family. It was in part her light, that brought joy into their lives. Emma had never thought about being a mother again after Henry, but having Hope and Regina was more than Emma have ever dreamed of and she was grateful every day for their love and acceptance.

 

“You’re lucky I’m reformed!” was the last thing Zelena said before turning towards her sister and the rest of her family gathered. “Geezer’s two white hairs away from a nursing home. He should’ve retired ages ago. You’re the mayor, Regina. You should insist he step down.”

 

Regina crossed her arms over her chest, but chose not to snap back. Zelena’s attention was naturally redirected when she caught sight of her daughter and Alice leaning on one another. They both looked exhausted and frightened. All three adults exchanged looks, making necessary decisions.

 

“How about we all go down to Granny’s for a few cups of cinnamon hot coco. My treat,” Emma offered.

 

The girls nodded, not standing or cheering like they usually would’ve, but the moment they got some real hot chocolate into them they’d both cheer right up.

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think?


End file.
